Party For Two
by Spazzumtard
Summary: Exchange gift fic for TGWWS. Isabella comes to Phineas and Ferb for a little help with a Valentine's Day party she's planning. But Phineas isn't really the best when it comes to romance, so she asks for a little more help from Ferb. When she reveals that the party she's planning isn't really a 'party' but a surprise date for the boy she likes...? Yeah, alright. He can do that.


**I'm the last! WOOHOO EVERYONE! We got it done! High fives all around! :D**

 **This ficlet is for TGWWS, whose prompts are below. I picked the third one because, well, it's Valentine's Day (or, it was). I did try to add in some elements from the other prompts, but the movies one got away from me so... it's not there sadly. Also, I tried to keep this in Ferb's POV so it there are some things that a few of you don't recognize (Americans, like me), it's because I tried to keep his thoughts still English-based. Guy, if I messed up, let me know so I can change it please!. :D**

 **TGWWS Prompts:**

 **1\. Soccer (But can it be football in the story? I'm English)**

 **2\. Watching movies**

 ** _3\. Common Valentine's Day misconceptions._**

* * *

Ferb was relaxing on the family room couch, tossing his special football signed by the best team in the world—the Nostrils. Phineas was sitting nearby, working on something complicated on a tablet. Ferb wasn't paying him any attention, enjoying the rare peace that filled the empty house. They were to the point where Ferb couldn't even say what his brother was working on—whenever Phineas would ask him something, Ferb would simply hmm in an affirmative tone and Phineas would nod along, continuing on with whatever he was doing.

Ferb must have zoned out, so focused on the ball, that he hadn't noticed Isabella until she was standing right in front of them, arms crossed and with an exasperated look on her face. Ferb blinked a couple of times, making sure the image he was seeing was not a figment, before deciding to preempt her irritation by nudging (kicking) the redhead next to him.

"Wha?" Phineas blinked at him before looking up. "Oh, hi Isabella."

Isabella shook her head knowingly. She, more than most anyone in the world, understood that the two stepbrothers could sometimes get so lost in their respective minds (Phineas!Land and Ferb!Land, respectively—Phineas!Land having been turned over to the boy himself when Isabella no longer got lost in her own daydreams about him as a centaur or a merman or whatever her mind came up with for him. Now when she zoned out, she claimed she was in "Isabella-topia! Where anything can happen!").

After a moment, she squared her shoulders and gave the duo an almost nervous grin. "Hey guys… So, I, um… I kind of need your help with something."

"Sure thing!" Phineas said brightly while setting aside his tablet. "What do you need?"

Isabella shifted a bit, though Ferb couldn't figure out why. What could she possibly be anxious about? It was just the two of them—they weren't frightening. At least, not unless you're threatening or insulting either of the brothers and/or their friends. Seriously, some of those high schoolers needed to gain at least a small sense of self-preservation. Ferb's lost count of how many times he's had to step between some mouthy chaps and an oblivious Isabella. She had grown into a thing of beauty, and none of those _boys_ respected that—at least, not at first. Now… she was fine.

So seriously, yeah… Why would she be anxious? Unless… Could it be that she was going to _finally_ confess to Phineas…?

Nope.

"Well, I'm having a Valentine's Day get together next week. My parents will be spending the day doing some romantic stuff and won't be back until late that night, so they said I could have a small party; just the group. But would you guys mind helping me put it all together on the day?"

Ferb blinked. Yeah, okay. They could do that easy.

Phineas said nearly the exact same thing, though verbally, and asked if Isabella needed any help planning too. She burst out laughing and said, "From you? Sorry Phineas, but no. Thank you, but your ideas for romance tends to lean more towards some tragic stuff." She shot Ferb a quick glance and shifted again. "And anyway, I kind of want to not have a whole bunch of romancy stuff. Just decorations is all."

That made sense. Phineas's idea of romance mostly came from those weird tearjerker movies that their mum and sister would watch whenever Candace had a break from law school. He would have a hard time thinking of anything that was _actually_ romantic even if it were to bite him on the butt. Okay, that was a little bit of an exaggeration, but still fairly true. Besides, if Isabella were really wanting to do something romantic, she wouldn't need any help. She was the go-to for that in their admittedly quite large group.

"Anyway," she smiled a thank you at them. "I'll let you know when it will be and if I need anything else. Thanks guys!" she cheered before practically skipping towards the entryway.

Phineas gazed curiously after her before turning Ferb, who had returned to tossing his football. "I'm not that bad with romance stuff. Am I?" he asked.

Ferb caught the ball and gazed at him silently for a moment, before flinging the ball back into the air. Phineas scowled and grabbed at it before Ferb could catch it again and chucked it down the hallway out of sight, mirthfully glowering at him before breaking out into chuckles. For the life of him, Phineas could never hold a face. It would be fun to play poker against him if he weren't so laughably transparent.

Ferb rolled his eyes playfully and got up to fetch his precious ball. He was not expecting to find Isabella still standing by the door, rolling the ball back and forth in her hands. She noticed him and handed over the ball, doing her best to ignore his questioning look. "Hey," she greeted with a whisper. She cast a quick glance towards the open doorway that led to the family room, as if making sure Phineas couldn't hear her—though chances were he had already buried his nose back into that project he was working on earlier.

Ferb raised an eyebrow, gazing at her curiously and silently asking her why she was still there—what else she needed, if anything. She noticed his look and bit her lip. "Um, so… I may have… lied a little…"

Ferb cocked his head, silently asking why. Instead of answering right away, Isabella gestured towards the stairs and he nodded. She followed him up the stairs where there was a less chance of Phineas overhearing. He led her to his room so he could put the ball away, which was where she began to explain.

"Okay, so… I'm not _actually_ wanting to have a get together with the group. I want to plan a romantic night with, well…" she trailed off, but Ferb nodded his understanding.

She wanted to plan a 'surprise date' for Phineas. That was easy enough to figure out. And telling him so he didn't accidentally end up being the third wheel made sense.

What didn't make sense was: "I was hoping you would help me plan it all out…"

Ferb's eyebrows rose and he spoke. "Why?"

She sighed and slumped down onto his bed as he leaned against his dresser. "Because I want to know your opinion on all these things I have planned. What should I do for dinner? Should I make it myself or get takeout? If takeout, what kind would be best for a romantic dinner? Should I do tons of decorations? What kind of music? Should there be dancing? Would—"

Ferb held up a hand. "Okay, I get it." he interrupted. "I'll help, but you have to narrow some of that down. Or at least get me a list of your questions for me to narrow down for you."

Isabella's shoulders rose slightly and she visibly brightened, as if a weight were just lifted from her. She shot over and hugged him tightly, saying over and over, "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Ferb rolled his eyes gently and patted her on the back, showing a little of the affection he felt for his neighbor and friend. She deserved a win when it came to love. And since she liked Phineas, Ferb was more than happy to help her get the guy.

Over the next week, Ferb would give Phineas a distraction and then go out to help Isabella plan and prep. They had discussed whether Isabella would cook the dinner or get something from a restaurant, or even if she should forgo dinner altogether and instead go for finger foods and appetizers. Isabella couldn't decide which; and when she asked Ferb to come over to help her decide, he found he couldn't say no.

Lawrence was more then happy to go along with Ferb's suggestion and requested Phineas's assistance in the shop after school, allowing Ferb to go visit with Isabella without having to make any excuses. When he arrived across the street, Isabella looked slightly harried. But before he could ask if she was alright, she had pulled him into the kitchen and sat him at the counter.

"Alright Ferb." She plopped a pile of takeout menus in front of him. "Look through these and set aside the ones you'd like."

Ferb shrugged and did as she asked, picking out some places; including Italian, Thai, Mexican, as well as the local steakhouse. Those were romantic enough without giving them tiny entrees and leaving them hungry. While he was looking through the many ( _many_ ) food options, he could feel his stomach rumbling. A lot of the menus were sounding _really_ good at the moment.

The doorbell rang and, as if she had been reading his mind, Isabella jumped from her seat. "That must be the pizza! I'm starving!" And she hurried off to grab it.

In the end, while eating their pizza, Isabella and Ferb had decided to go with her original third option and were picking out random appetizers from three different restaurants—doing their best to avoid anything with garlic or onion, per Isabella's suggestion. "Well, I'm hoping that the night will end with… um… end _well_. And I don't want to have to worry about my breath if that happens." She explained, avoiding his gaze and her face flushing bright red.

(With the ease that comes from years of practice, Ferb pushed down the uncomfortable feeling in his gut at the thought of Isabella kissing someone, almost without noticing it was there.)

After deciding the hors d'oeuvres, Ferb noticed Isabella setting aside the last menu with a melancholy look on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked tentatively, curious as to why she wasn't happy to have another thing checked off her list.

Isabella snapped to attention, not having expected him to notice. "Oh, sorry. It's nothing…" He raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed. "Okay, it's just… I was kind of hoping to make something. It honestly doesn't make a lot of sense, because I should be thrilled that it's one less thing for me to stress about, but…"

She trailed off, but Ferb understood. Isabella was a good cook—he had told her so many times in the past—and of course she wanted to show off that skill a little. He was about to suggest that she still make something to go along with the takeout foods, but she shook her head before he could.

"Never mind, the foods we picked will be perfect." She smiled at Ferb, her cheeks slightly flushed. "Thank you for helping me Ferb. I don't know how I could pull this off without you."

Ferb smiled back and helped her clear away the pizza box and the menus, ignoring one of his inner Ferbs who was suggesting that all of these little 'planning sessions' were becoming more and more like dates, which was just ridiculous. Another inner Ferb viciously and efficiently smothered the first, as he'd had to do many times before. Isabella liked _Phineas_. Seriously, one would think that _all_ of the inner Ferbs would have figured that out by now.

During his walk across the street, his mind went back to how pensive Isabella had been when she thought she wasn't going to be cooking anything herself. He decided to help her come up with something easy and small that she could do. Once home, he decided to grab a quick snack before heading upstairs to do some pondering. He passed his mum who was sitting at the table. "I want to try this out this summer," Linda said, holding up a tablet that showed a recipe on the screen. Ferb looked through it and grinned, pulling out his phone as he walked up to his room.

 **Ferb: Homemade Marshmallows?**

 **Isabella: FERB! You're a GENIUS!**

* * *

Phineas was all over the place; putting up lights, tying bows (what?), and all around having way too much energy than one teenager should have. Isabella was in the kitchen cutting apart the marshmallow mixture, which left Ferb to do pretty much all the rest—which was mostly the heavy lifting—himself. Bringing in a spare table into the great room, moving the furniture out of the way to make a 'dance floor', and more.

Once he was finished, he went into the kitchen to ask Isabella if there was anything else she wanted him to do. The scene in front of him made him stop though. Music was playing and Isabella was swaying while she dusted the marshmallows with powdered sugar. He couldn't stop the chuckle when he noticed specks and streaks in Isabella's hair and across her face. She turned to look at him and made a face before giggling herself.

"I know I have sugar everywhere. I had to open another bag and it went _poof_!" she explained.

Ferb held his hands up in a silent gesture that read _I wasn't going to say a thing_. Isabella rolled her eyes, but continued on with her work. Ferb looked between her and the marshmallows a couple of times before smirking and slinking his way up behind her. He reached around her and snatched a fluffy square, making her jump at the sudden movement. She spun around to pin him with a glare, and only then did Ferb realize how close he had come.

There was a moment of silence between them before a slightly flushed Isabella cleared her throat and poked him in the chest, causing him to take a step back. "No marshmellows for you! Wait until the party."

Ferb merely cocked an eyebrow at her before stuffing the square into his mouth all at once. It was big and he had a little trouble chewing it without leaving his mouth open, but it was worth it from the disgruntled look on her face and the mischievous gleam in her eyes.

He deserved the marshmallow anyway, considering there wasn't actually a party and he wouldn't be getting any that night. He'd be home in his room, feeling happy for Phineas and Isabella—and not at all disappointed that it was Phineas and not himself having a date with Isabella.

Phineas stuck his head in at that moment, interrupting their moment (did it count as a moment? It was just teasing between friends…). "All done in here! Come see! Ooh! Are those marshmallows? I want one! Please?!" he begged.

Isabella sighed, but nodded. "Yes, they are. And sure, you can have one. Actually," she turned to Ferb. "Could you please pack some up for your parents too? They might like them. While I go see what Phineas did to my living room?" She grinned at the redhead, who had already snatched some of the white fluff.

Phineas nodded excitedly and grabbed her arm to pull her along. Ferb didn't have the chance to say yes or no to Isabella's request, but he did it anyway. She was right after all—their parents would probably really like some.

As he packed them away, he could hear the two of them talking faintly. They were too quiet and far away for him to make out any words, but he could sense the anticipation in their tones. Tying the plastic wrap closed, Ferb sighed and looked at the floor. This was simultaneously one of the most fun and worst weeks of his life. He was so proud of Isabella for finally deciding to come clean about her crush in a way that she couldn't back away from. But it made him think about all of those times where he had to comfort her whenever Phineas had unintentionally stepped on her heart. He desperately hoped that wouldn't be the case tonight.

Phineas poked his head back into the kitchen. "Isabella says we're all done here now. She's gone up to shower, but she's asked us to put away the marshmallows so they don't get hard. Um…" He looked down at the towers of fluff curiously.

Ferb held up a container to answer his brother's unasked question. It wasn't often that Phineas silently said anything to him; but just as he knew Ferb's body cues, Ferb knew his too. As they started layering the marshmallows into the container, Ferb had to ask, "Isabella trusted us not to eat them all?"

Phineas grinned at him. "Well, she did threaten to stuff whatever is left into our ears if we so much as licked a corner, so…"

Ferb blinked at him. "Our ears?" he asked.

Phineas shifted uncomfortably. "Well, that's not _exactly_ what she said… but you get the idea."

Ferb smirked, and they finished packing everything away in silence. They heard the shower turn on upstairs (and Ferb fought to keep his thoughts from what Isabella was doing), and the two brothers decided to help her out a bit more by cleaning up the kitchen and dishes before heading out and leaving Isabella to finish with all the last minute details.

* * *

Ferb laid back on his bed, uncaring that he was likely wrinkling his button down shirt. The sweater he was wearing overtop would hide any wrinkles anyway, so it really didn't matter. And not only that, he would be coming back home within an hour and he'd be able to change.

Ferb frowned at the dip he felt in his stomach. He hadn't felt anything like that in yea—okay fine, months… Hours actually, now that he's thinking back. He sighed, pushing away the affection he felt for Isabella. She loved someone else—and if that weren't enough, the someone else was Phineas! So, with the ease that came from _years_ of practice, Ferb set aside his feelings for the neighbor girl and decided to go check on Phineas.

Ferb rolled his eyes when he noticed Phineas's door was wide open and said boy was lounging on his own bed, the tablet in his hands as he typed out another odd idea or such. He cleared his throat and when Phineas looked up at him, he gestured to the clock that showed it was less than ten minutes away from when they should be at Isabella's.

Phineas blinked at the clock, then at Ferb, then back at the clock again. "Oh!" the redhead exclaimed, rolling off his bed and scrambling towards his closet. "What are we supposed to wear to this? Is it casual—do I wear a t-shirt? A suit? What are you wearing?" he poked his head out and looked him over. With a nod, he vanished again behind the door. "Okay, I can do that."

"Just dress nice, Phineas." Ferb told him, amusement coloring his tone.

Within moments, Phineas was out of his closet dressed fairly similar to Ferb, though instead of slacks he wore a nice set of jeans. Ferb raised an eyebrow at that, but still gave his approval. "Okay, I'm all set." Ferb gave his hair a look, but Phineas just shrugged. "There's not much I can do with it, so I'm just leaving it as it. I don't think anyone is going to care. It's not like they haven't seen it before."

Heading down the stairs, Ferb made a slight detour to the kitchen where a beautiful vase full of roses stood—their mum's Valentine's Day gift from their dad. Phineas cocked his head curiously as Ferb pulled out a flower and handed it to him. "What's this for?" the redhead asked.

Ferb rolled his eyes and started pushing him to the door. "For Isabella." he replied simply.

"Oh, right." Phineas said, looking a little… Shifty? Could Phineas _look_ shifty? That can't be right. Ferb shook his head. Phineas must just be feeling things that he's not used to. He's probably starting to _like_ Isabella back, finally.

Again, Ferb pushed away the feelings that caused that dip in his stomach.

Phineas reached out and rang the doorbell, waiting a moment to listen to the chime before jerking upright. "Hold this!" he said excitedly, pushing the rose into Ferb's hands and pulling out his tablet. Ferb blinked, wondering where, exactly, Phineas had hidden that. In an instant, Phineas was nose deep in writing out a new plan for something or other. And almost at that same moment, the door opened to show Isabella, looking beautiful (as always) in a red dress.

She blinked at Phineas, who hadn't even looked up when she appeared, before switching her gaze to Ferb and granting him a tentative smile. "Hey guys… um…" she glanced back at Phineas, looking a little uncomfortable.

Ferb twitched his hand, getting ready to pull the tablet from his brother's hands, when Phineas spoke up. "Okay Isabella, I delivered." He glanced up and winked at her before nudging Ferb towards the door. It wouldn't have worked if Ferb hadn't been so confused. "Have fun you two!" he cheered before skipping—literally skipping—back across the street.

Ferb blinked after him before looking back at Isabella. She was biting her lip and she had a bright blush on her face as she gazed up at him with something akin to hope in her eyes. Ferb felt his stomach flip and his heart warm and his brain go fuzzy. He glanced between her and Phineas's back before focusing on her face. "I thought… Phineas?" he stammered—also something he'd never experienced before.

Isabella rubbed her hand over her arm, looking all the world like she expected something to go wrong, as she shook her head negatively. "No," she said quietly. "Not Phineas…"

Ferb gaped at her until he noticed her eyes shimmering with unshed tears, realizing that if he didn't do something soon, she was going to start to cry. It was that site that gave his brain cause to reboot and, with a shy grin, he held up the rose for her. She beamed brightly, grabbing the rose gently before stepping back. "Do you want to come in?" she asked.

Ferb nodded shallowly before stepping through the door for their date.

 _Their_ date. Not for Phineas… But for _him_.

Ferb felt like he could fly.

* * *

 **So, before you all start looking at this like it's weird, the date was for Ferb from the very beginning. If you don't believe me, reread it and take note of Isabella and how she acts/what she says. Ferb just misunderstood, which is very understandable considering their past, but he was still wrong.**

 **And yes, Phineas knew what was going on too. While I did not include his tell of scratching his ear when he lies, he still misdirected as best he could.**

 **Also, I want you all to tell me if we should try and make this exchange an annual thing or not. Or if you would rather we create a Ferbella week with seven daily word prompts that you write/make short stories/drabbles/oneshots/or even artwork about. If you want to know more, just ask. But I do want to hear from you. Give me some feedback on both my story and this exchange! I'd like to know your thoughts!**

 **I hope you all enjoyed it! REVIEW please!**


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